Getting Started

Installation

Install FlameCsv using the NuGet package manager:

dotnet add package FlameCsv

Basic Usage

Reading CSV data is as simple as:

// Reading from a string
IEnumerable<User> users = CsvReader.Read<User>("id,name\n1,John\n2,Jane");

// Reading from a file
await foreach (User user in CsvReader.ReadFromFile<User>("users.csv").WithCancellation(cancellationToken))
{
    Console.WriteLine(user.Name);
}

// Peeking fields directly from the underlying data
double sum = 0;

foreach (CsvRecordRef<byte> record in new CsvReader<byte>(options, (ReadOnlyMemory<byte>)csv).ParseRecords())
{
    ReadOnlySpan<byte> field = record[3];
        
    if (double.TryParse(field, out double value))
    {
        sum += value;
    }
}

Writing CSV is just as easy:

var users = new[]
{
    new User { Id = 1, Name = "John" },
    new User { Id = 2, Name = "Jane" }
};

// Writing to a string
StringBuilder csv = CsvWriter.WriteToString(users);

// Writing to a file
await CsvWriter.WriteToFileAsync("users.csv", users, cancellationToken);

Configuration

FlameCsv is highly configurable. Common options include:

CSV dialect (delimiters, quotes) - see Configuration
Header mapping - see Attributes
Type conversion - see Configuration

Example of custom configuration:

CsvOptions<char> options = new()
{
    Delimiter = ';',
    Quote = '"',
    Trimming = CsvFieldTrimming.Leading,
    HasHeader = true,
    Comparer = StringComparer.Ordinal,
};

The configuration object is identical for char and byte, and UTF16 <-> UTF8 conversion is handled automatically. Only differences are the converters, which are separate for char and byte.

Next Steps

See Examples for more detailed examples
Learn about configuring types in Attributes
Browse available configuration options in Configuration
Check out the performance Benchmarks
Understand the internals and design philosophy in Architecture

Comparisons to other libraries